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Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Oscar and I had the opportunity to be prophets yesterday. We found a park not too far from us with lots of trails and paths and had just gotten out of the car (we live right off a large road/portion of a major highway, so the best walks require a small drive first). We started down a path and came across a woman walking who watched us curiously as we approached each other. As we said "hello" she said "What kind of dog is that?" Now, this is a question that I have trouble with. Part of me wants him to not be judged, so I've debated using "staffordshire terrier" or "mutt" or various breed mixes. But now that I know he's got a safe home with me, the fight for justice side of me wants the truth to be known. "A pitbull, and he's just the friendliest thing in the world." She gasped and said "He's just so beautiful! Really, he's friendly? May I pet him?" for Oscar had already gone to meet her and was putting his deep coffee browns to work on her... of course I said she could. She then asked where pitbulls get the reputation of being so mean...

I think you know what happened next.

We talked to this woman for 15 minutes. She was so friendly, and Oscar was so calm and sweet - settled down and just leaned on her for a while, with her gasping at how lovely and friendly he was. I described his behavior, showed her the scar tissue on his tail that came from him wagging his tail so much it bled, put my hands in his mouth to show her how he wouldn't bite me, and talked about how fantastic he is with children, and how I'd discovered that my neighbors 4 and 6 year old were coming over and playing with Oscar in the middle of the day when no one was around. You know how much kids yank and tug and smack without meaning... an ill-tempered dog won't tolerate that for long. I told her about the tests that have been done that show that as far as consistancy with temperment, pitbulls generally rank up there with Golden Retreivers. How they used to be recommended for families with children (see comment about kids tugging and smacking!), how they're not recommended as watch dogs because they're too people friendly.

After talking to her for quite a while, with her just amazed, and misting up when I told her that Oscar might have been killed just for being a pitbull, she thanked me for taking the time to talk to her about him. I said "you're very welcome - just do me the favor of remembering Oscar next time you hear someone talk about pitbulls."

On the fiber front it's been spinning spinning spinning! I spun two bobbins yesterday of some stuff I just can't wait to knit with - I'd gotten some grey roving off Ebay that was a mix of lambswool, 12% angora, and then a smidge of alpaca and llama (I think 6% each)... heavenly, heavenly stuff... like spinning air, just so soft and smooth... I blended in some cornflower blue wool that Meg sent me with about half of that, and got this neat tweedy soft yarn... I got so involved in that, I accidentally used up all the blue... so then I spun about that much again of just the grey blend, and I'll ply those together tonight... That will become a hat for GB, the first thing I've knit for him. I still have some left of the grey blend, and still have a bunch of stuff from Meg - some pink wool, and an alpaca blend, so I think I might try to mix all those together and make myself a hat out of those...

Knit just a few stitches on a sock I'm making, but I did it leg down, and I'm at the gusset... my least favorite part... once I get to the foot, it'll go pretty quickly...

Thoughts for the Day:

Unknown - β€œ'A preacher is a messenger,' once said a very wise man, 'and being a messenger, he has no right to change the message he carries, any more than a Western Union messenger boy has a right to change the message in the telegram that he is employed to deliver.'”

Saint Francis of Sales' - β€œThe test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not what a lovely sermon, but 'I will do something!'”

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